The most prominent rebuke I receive on social media, when trying to persuade leave voters of the folly that we are taking the UK into, is “We had a democratic vote, respect democracy!”. I wouldn’t mind so much, if this were also supported by rational, thought out arguments giving the case for why they voted as they did, but this is rarely, if ever, the case.
My challenge to this most favoured of rebukes is two-fold. First, nothing is forever – most of all public opinion, which can change with the wind. Second, that referenda a fundamentally incompatible with British democratic process.
I have this theory that collective society has a working memory of about 20 years – sometimes longer depending on the severity of what has come to pass. The rise of popular Corbynism, and the Momentum campaign movement supporting it (together with a, fringe, distinctively militant social media presence) demonstrates to me that we have forgotten why we moved away from the policies of the 60’s and 70’s and this is being presented to our young voters as something radical, progressive and new. The truth is that the manifesto that Labour published for the 2017 General Election is regressive, vastly increasing the role and power of the State, and stifling economic growth. The fact that the 
Of movement, that is. It is hard to describe the feeling of dejection, and the frustration with my fellow countrymen, that I felt as the results of the EU referendum became clear. The people of the UK had voted to leave the European Union. The one question going round and round in my head without respite, was “Why?”.